Better known as 'Blow-up Bridge'

The nickname 'Blow-up Bridge' commemorates an accident here just before 5 o'clock in the morning of Friday 2nd October 1874. Five boats were being towed by a steam powered tug; one of them, the 'Tilbury', was carrying a cargo of about five tons of gunpowder, and as it passed under the bridge, the gunpowder caught fire and there was an explosion which completely destroyed the bridge. Its cast-iron columns were re-used when the bridge was re-built, and were turned through 180 degrees; the rope grooves that were originally on the canal side, can still be seen on the inside from the towpath; there were subsequently new rope grooves worn on the canal side of the columns.

Photograph taken by PeterScott on 5 May 2005 and was added to the database on Tuesday the 14th of June, 2005

This photo is of Macclesfield Bridge No 9 on the Grand Union Canal (Regent's Canal)